


(ON HIATUS) Rock On! Gaiden: Chronos Institute

by Ready to Roll (myselfamhell)



Category: Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Gen, Surgery, but it contains very important Rock On! lore, i call it Trauma Center: New Bot, okay this is probably going to be incredibly boring, or Mega Man: Under the Knife, why yes i know how surgery works i played trauma center
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26296282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myselfamhell/pseuds/Ready%20to%20Roll
Summary: DLN-00A Time Man, the first steps into time travel research... Even the highly-esteemed Chronos Institute of Time-Space Research had only been able to create theories until Dr. Light's breakthrough. It's at this institute that Time Man finds a purpose in saving lives through medical procedures.
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This story is more of a way to get lore related to the main Rock On story out of the way and try my hands at medical drama, with possibly mixed results. I do hope that this doesn't disappoint, but the surgery sections are rather wooden, though I guess it matches the clinical tone.
> 
> This will probably be on hold until I actually get the MM2 arc of Rock On out of the way...?

**Chronos Institute of Time-Space Research, Denver, Colorado**

**June 9, 20XX+1**

“Here’s to our Dr. Zaman Light, Time Man, for one year of service at the Institute’s Medical Research Division!” Dr. Kouin raised a glass of cherry-flavored soda water.

“To Time Man!” Everyone else raised their glasses.

Time Man had one of the most genuine smiles on his face that he’s ever had in his life. To be treated with such warmth and esteem, it filled him with a feeling of euphoria like none other.

“Thank you all so much,” Time Man gave his own speech, “For what you’ve taught me along the way, and for the support you all gave me.”

“To Serek, Marleen, and Ness, to Maxi, Sharise, and Zevier, and one big thank you to both of the Kouins. I hope we can continue to build a better future together.” Time Man raised his glass before downing it in one gulp.

* * *

Time Man sat at his desk and read over the flyer for the Roboticists' Wired Conference. "You’re going to show off my Improved Time Slow, correct?"

"Imagine, Time Man, the power you hold inside you, made available to every doctor in the U.S., and eventually the world! Think of how many lives it can save!" Dr. Kouin dressed in his finest suit for the occasion.

"I know how exciting it is to you, doctor, but please make sure it doesn't leak into places it shouldn't. I know more than anyone that the Time Slow can be used to harm."

"Don’t worry, it’d cost an arm and a leg! If President Bellamy didn't put more funding into medical care, then most hospitals couldn't even afford it."

"People have their ways." Time Man gave him a serious look.

"It’s still less likely to happen than you think." Dr. Kouin looked at his watch. "Oh, it's high time we leave."

"And there aren't any important operations I should do?" Time Man stood up.

"All that we have today is Ness's little brother D'Sean Dohman having an appendectomy, it's nothing that any doctor can't handle-"

"Time Man!" Jun ran into the room. "Y-You have to come quickly!"

Time Man stood up. "What is it, Jun?"

"It's D'Sean, he complained about his stomach-" In the blink of an eye, Time Man ran past the younger Kouin. His Time Slow had activated, racing to the operating room that he was last told D'Sean would have his surgery in.

“Time Man-” Ness was startled by Time Man’s almost sudden appearance.

“Whoa, Time Man to the rescue!” Maxi smiled, glad that someone else came to help.

“What happened to D’Sean?!” Time Man’s armor disappeared, a mist spraying over his body to disinfect himself.

“He’s gone into shock, his appendix must have ruptured.” Ness rolled D’Sean into the operating room. “The worst of it hasn’t started but it will if we don’t hurry.”

“Damn it…” Time Man shook his head. “Let me make an important call.”

“Make it quick.” Ness pulled out a syringe of local anesthesia.

Time Man closed his eyes, sending out an audio call to Dr. Light’s phone. Light should be driving to the RWC with Rock and Roll. His van could take calls to the speaker so his two siblings would know too.

"Hello?" Dr. Light answered.

"Doctor, you'll have to expect me to be late." Time Man spoke quickly, his stoic voice on the verge of panic.

"Wait, what’s going on?"

"I had a little boy waiting for an appendectomy, and it’s just ruptured."

"Oh, no…"

"That’s all I need to tell you, you guys stay safe."

“I injected the anesthesia. You ready?” Ness turned to face Time Man.

"Okay. Let’s begin the operation. Hang in there, D’Sean…" And Time Man hung up.

* * *

“You haven’t gone rusty, have you?” Ness stood on the opposite side of the table as Time Man, rubbing the antibiotic gel on the three spots she injected the anesthesia.

“Yes, don’t worry. I don’t make mistakes unless someone was to sabotage me.” A scalpel spawned in Time Man’s hand before he made an incision in the first disinfected area, about an inch away from the navel. Next, a trocar appeared in his hand, which he inserted into the incision. He placed a scope attached to a video monitor within the trocar to make sure he was getting it through all the layers of the abdominal wall, into the abdominal cavity.

“Insufflation tubing.” Time Man spoke simply.

“Here.” Maxi inserted it into the trocar. The abdominal cavity began to inflate with gas, keeping it raised above the organs so it didn’t get in the way.

Time Man placed the scope back in, moving the trocar around to adjust where in the abdomen he was looking. “There’s already quite a bit of inflammation in the lower right quadrant.”

“That’s no good…” Ness took a scalpel from a tray, making two more incisions. "We'll need two more trocars for the tools."

"Alright, hold the scope then." Time Man spawned the trocars in his hands and inserted them into the incisions.

"You'll need to cut the omentum out of the way." Maxi turned the monitor in Time Man's direction so he could see what he was doing in there.

"Easy enough." In each hand, Time Man held a grasper. Inserting them into the two trocars, he carefully lifted some of the large intestines to the side with one grasper, lightly tearing at the fatty omentum covering the appendix with the other.

“There, the tip of the appendix is coming into view, just a little more!” Maxi spoke aloud.

Time Man proceeded with dissecting out the appendix, pushing it to the right as he peeled off more and more of that fatty layer. His eyes caught something on the monitor just then.

“There’s murky fluid right where the liver is…” Time Man picked up the pace with sweeping the omentum off.

“This infection was more serious than I thought. But worry about the fluid after we get the appendix out.” Ness turned the scope around so Time Man would pay attention to the objective at hand.

Time Man obliged, still worried about what it’s going to look like underneath the apron of fat as he swept it to the right.

It was just as bad as he thought. There was a lot of pus around the base of the appendix, indicating it has in fact ruptured. Sweeping the appendix over to the left, he lifted it up before removing the clasper in his right hand.

“You can see where it burst right there,” Maxi pointed to a red spot just under Time Man’s grasper, “Along with the where the tissue’s gone necrotic from the infection.” Maxi pointed to the blackened tissue.

Time Man’s hand spawned a stapling device, bringing it through the trocar to divide the appendix from the colon. One firing of the stapler allowed for the appendix to be torn away from the colon, and another divided the blood supply to the appendix, which allowed Time Man to pull it off completely.

“That’s it!” Ness handed the extraction tool to Time Man. Temporarily removing the grasper, he inserted the bag into one of the trocars.

“Let’s set the appendix to the side for now. We’ll remove it from the body after the case.” Time Man placed the appendix into the specimen retrieval bag and closed it tightly before removing the extraction tool, leaving just the strings to pull it out after the operation. The stapler disappeared from his hand before he was handed a drain by Maxi to suck out any blood and loosened staples from the staple line, as well as any pus that had been ejected from the rupture.

“Don’t forget about the murky fluid. It might have developed in the pelvis as well.” Maxi watched the monitor as the scope’s position changed to the second trocar on the bottom.

“Yeah, right down there, past the small intestines…” Ness swiveled the scope to face the affected area.

“Maxi, go get a draining tube in case of any future buildup.” Time Man picked his grasper back up to move the small intestines out of his way to drain the murky fluid and pus from the pelvis.

“Right behind you!” They handed one end of the tube to Time Man, who removed the drain and handed it to Maxi before he brought the tube through the trocar, pulling it down into the pelvis using the grasper.

This operation was just about finished. Maxi twisted a plastic bulb onto the end of the tube that was sticking out of D’Sean’s skin, giving it a squeeze as it slowly filled back up and sucked out whatever built up in his pelvis.

After the trocars were removed, Ness pulled on the strings that stuck out of one of the incisions, pulling the appendix out in its little bag.

“D’Sean will have to stay here for four more days, but he’ll make a full recovery.” A needle and thread appeared in Time Man’s hand as he sutured, disinfected, and bandaged the incisions. “Operation complete!”

“Thank you so much, Time Man. I’m sure D’Sean will be thankful to you as well.” Ness removed her gloves and her mask, smiling warmly.

“It’s what I do.” Time Man’s surgical scrubs disappeared. He had a smile of his own, one of pride.

* * *

“God bless your soul, Dr. Zaman!” Ness’s mother, Ninette Dohman, gave Time Man a big hug, using the civilian name he introduced himself with.

“As soon as I heard I had to get there as fast as I could.” He blushed.

“You’re like a guardian angel coming in to save my baby, Ness is blessed to be working with you-” Ninette started to ramble on, holding onto Time Man tighter and tighter, he was starting to get warmer.

“I c-can’t breathe…” He was beginning to overheat.

“Mama, let the poor man go.” Ness laughed and unwrapped Time Man from the death grip her mother had on him.

“Oh, I’m sorry deary!” Ninette released Time Man.

Jun stuck her head into the operating room. “Dr. Zaman Light? Dr. Shou Kouin is still in the car, you still have time to get to the RWC.”

“Is that so?” Time Man stood up to walk out the door. “Do give me a call and teleport me back here if you're short-staffed.”

“That’s what I expected you to say.” Jun patted him on the back

* * *

At the end of the day, Time Man sat down at his desk, looking at the picture that he and his colleagues took earlier during his brief anniversary party.

It’s been one year working at the Institute already? Time really does fly like an arrow. And so much happened during just that one year that it was uncanny.

Time Man’s mind began to wander, back to those old days, back to how it all started, and everything that happened along the way…


	2. Chronos Institute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is how it all began. With one simple phone call, Time Man's destiny would be changed forever.

**Light Labs, Mega City, Colorado**

**June 1, 20XX**

“Time Man?” Dr. Light called, “There’s someone on the phone who’d like to talk to you!”

“Hm?” Time Man looked up from the thoughts clouding his mind. “Who? And why me?”

“Take a guess.” Light walked in, smiling and holding the phone out to him.

Silently, Time Man took it from his hand. “Time Man speaking.”

“Hello, Time Man!” That voice sounded familiar. Time Man heard it during the LIT Manual Design Contest.

“Wait… are you Doctor Shou Kouin?” Time Man stood up, his stoic expression breaking into something between panic and excitement.

“Yes, in a staggeringly one-sided petition, the Chronos Institute of Time-Space Research has selected you to join us.” Kouin’s voice had a friendly, jolly tone to it. “We had only been able to create theories in our efforts to see how the flow of time works, but with Dr. Light's research, we can make true progress!”

Time Man’s expression soured. Light’s research? It was Wily’s research, no matter how bad he was.

“We do not want to pressure you, however. After all, you have autonomy and your needs come first. What do you say?”

Time Man’s mind went back to Ice Man’s words when he first met all of his siblings.

“Even just slowing time sounds like it could have amazing applications in medical fields!”

Those words dragged themselves back to the front of Time Man’s memory circuit board.

“Thank you, Doctor Kouin. I think you can expect to see me seven days from now. I’m going to study up on my new occupation…”

* * *

Time Man plugged a cable into his wrist, with the other end going into the computer. Videos, PDFs, and text documents, all about surgery, loaded into his databanks.

“I dunno how you can handle looking at all that gross shit, man.” Oil Man teased Time Man, just a sibling thing. “Ain’t it traumatizing?”

“The shock of it wore off after looking at several videos. I’m sure downloading more into me won’t kill me.”

“You’re just trying to look tough, ain’t ya?”

“If I can save lives with this information, I will gladly take it all into me. A robot can take information and execute it to the letter. Combine that with my Time Slow, and I can save people who are holding on by just seconds.”

“…S-Sorry.” Oil fidgeted with his scarf. "So like… you gonna get surgery stuff built into you?"

"Dr. Light ordered the tools online. I told Kouin to give me about a week for a reason." Time Man pointed to his arm. "They're going to be kept within the same place as my buster. I’m also having a self-sterilization function implemented so I don’t have to worry about infecting people by accident.”

“That’s pretty neat, actually. You can like, perform surgery anywhere.”

“Hmhm…” Time Man unplugged the cable. All that information was a lot to take in, but he was prepared now.

"Anything else I gotta know?" Oil Man patted Time Man's shoulder.

"Light will also implement a 'civilian' form in me, much like Rock and Roll. As weird as it may sound, I want my patients to think of me as a friend rather than just another machine."

"I'll be honest, I'm surprised he didn't give you that sooner. He gonna give Elec and Fire that ability too?"

"Only time will tell."

* * *

**June 6, 20XX**

June 2, Time Man obtained a civilian form. June 4, he was given the ability to completely sterilize his body. Today is the day he'd obtain his tools.

"And by all my calculations up to now, they should be arriving in three, two, one…"

The doorbell rang. Time Man gave a cocksure smile. "I'm not wrong when it comes to this."

"Y'know, it's actually kinda sweet when you smile. Shows when something's really right." Oil Man put Time Man in a headlock.

"Nh- Never mind that-"

"Someone oughta get you to laugh out loud."

"I said never mind-" Time Man got out of his brother's grasp.

Dr. Light walked in with several manila envelopes. "The tools actually came in data chips! Everything you need for open surgery and minimally invasive surgeries is contained in these chips."

"This should be like implementing the Variable Weapon System into Rock and Roll. It'll be easy, right?" Time Man laid down on the repair table.

"Yes, but the end results will still be amazingly effective." Light smiled and held onto Time Man's hand. "I believe in you and the information you've downloaded."

"Thank you, father…" Time Man closed his eyes. "I'm ready."

"Then let us begin." Dr. Light placed his hand on Time Man's power dial, turning it down slowly until Time Man was fully powered off.

* * *

**June 8, 20XX**

Today was the day Time Man would spread his wings and fly on his own.

“The teleporters are a-okay! Linked up and ready to roll!” Auto gave a thumbs up.

“Excellent!” Dr. Light looked over to Time Man. “Teleporters were the very first thing to come out of the Institute, you know. It’s a marvel of spatial manipulation.”

Time Man, however, stood silently. He had that same timid look on his face from when he first met his linemates.

“Don’t be afraid, Time Man. Most if not all of them elected you to join them. I’m sure it will be one of the warmest welcomes of your life.” Dr. Light rubbed his back.

“…I won’t let you down. I won’t let  _ them _ down either.” Time Man held his head up.

“That’s the spirit!” Dr. Light chuckled.

“I’ve already gotten my ‘good lucks’ from everyone else. I just need both of yours now.”

“Then knock ‘em dead- Uh, break a leg- Er… See ya!” Auto had some… very inappropriate sayings for a time like this.

“Good luck. Tell us how your day went when you get back.” Light gave Time Man a big hug like it was the last hug they’d ever share.

“Thank you.” Time Man closed his eyes before walking into the teleporter…

* * *

**Chronos Institute of Time-Space Research, Denver, Colorado**

“Welcome, Time Man!” Everyone in the room cheered in unison but made sure they weren’t too loud on account of Time Man’s noise sensitivity.

“We’re so glad to have you here in our Medical Division!” Dr. Kouin stepped forward. “These seven individuals are your colleagues, all of them accomplished doctors and nurses who came here to study the flow of time and how they can apply it to their field of work.”

“Ah-” Time Man looked around at all these new faces. “It's a great pleasure to meet you all… I hope I can help in building a better future for the world.”

“Hey, no need to be so formal, we’re all friends here!” A very tall man walked up and smacked Time Man on the back, almost knocking him over. “The name’s Serek Little, I'm a general surgeon and a veteran to the business. My true specialty's orthopedics, though. Nice to meet ya!”

“Y-Yeah… Little…” The irony wasn't lost on Time Man.

"So you're Time Man? I expected ya to be a bit taller." A stout woman with a southern drawl in her voice, easily in her 40s, placed her hand on Time Man’s shoulder. "I'm Marleen Shire, I work here as a nurse. Honestly, of all the things people say when they get here, your words were the most touching." She put her other hand on her chest.

"Don't mind her, she's just a sucker for deep-sounding stuff." A younger woman with cornrow braids put a hand on Time Man's head. "Vanessa Dohman to you, you can just call me Ness though. I’m the trauma surgeon here."

"Nice to meet you-" Time Man separated himself from those three. He needed room to breathe.

"Don't scare him off, you guys, he just got here!" A more youthful, boyish person stepped forward. "I'm Maxi Matsumoto, I'm also a nurse. I hope we can be friends!" They held their hand out, having a rather casual and excited demeanor.

“It’s nice to meet you, Maxi.” Time Man shook their hand. Finally, someone with a concept of personal space and only touching with consent.

“Never thought I’d see one of Doctor Light’s robots in person.” A woman with a pile of packets put them down and shook Time Man’s hand. “The name’s Sharise Najm, I’m with the first response team here. Hope you get used to everyone here.”

“I will.” Time Man gave Sharise’s hand a firm shake.

“Couldn’t stand anyone here when I first started, man. But I warmed up.” A lithe man with his hair in a deadlocked bun kept his hands to himself. “Zevier L’Omar. I’m the token veterinarian here..”

“Lucky for you. I actually have that knowledge in my database too.” Time Man tapped on his head.

“Must be really easy to just upload stuff into a brain instead of painstakingly learning it for years.” A more scornful voice came from beside Time Man. A woman with a braided updo and the same kind of glasses that Dr. Kouin was wearing sat down in a wheeled chair, having dropped the party favor that she had blown into sarcastically.

“And you are…?” Time Man looked confused.

“My name is Dr. Jun Kouin. My father may have been excited about this but don’t expect me to trust in your abilities just because you’re a robot.” She adjusted her glasses.

“Jun… We’ve been over this.” Shou stepped towards her.

“This isn’t me being hard on a rookie, dad. I don't trust robotic surgery at all. Especially if the machine has a personality that can be modified by any unscrupulous parties, lest we forget Doctor Wily's rampage not even two weeks ago.”

"There's no need to worry about that." Time Man glared at Jun. "Doctor Light has made me effectively tamper-proof. The only way I could make mistakes is if I were sabotaged whilst doing surgery."

"Does that include self-sabotage?" Jun tried to cast doubt on him in what she perceived to be a philosophical manner.

"What are you-" You could practically see the question marks floating around Time Man's head.

Shou stepped between them and handed Jun a file, thankfully ending this confrontation. "You should get back to work, Jun."

"Hmph." She stuck her nose up and exited.

“Just ignore her,” Serek spoke up, “She’s just hiding her real feelings.”

“Are you implying she likes me…?” Time Man looked baffled.

“Nah, I'm not a crappy kindergarten teacher. What I mean is she’s got a…” Serek held his hand up and made air quotes, “‘Traditional’ way of thinking when it comes to surgery. She’s prolly hiding that by bringing up Wily.”

“Oh. Goodie.” Time Man shook his head.

Shou put a hand on Time Man’s shoulder. “Don’t let her attitude get to you. She’s here because she’s an amazing surgeon. I think she’ll come to learn her fears aren't to be feared.”

“Let’s hope that comes quickly before he snaps and leaves,” Sharise laughed.

Time Man shrunk a little bit after Sharise said that.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m kidding.” She handed Time Man a white coat. "Take this, it'll help you fit in."

* * *

"Light sent me the blueprints for your Time Slow to study." Dr. Kouin brought it up on the main computer in his quarters. "We're working together to see if we can improve it. Not that you aren't impressive now, mind you, but you're still a prototype."

“I’m all too aware.” Time Man wondered if he should open his mouth about the truth of the tech inside of him. The truth of where it came from. The truth of how he’s been completed but was broken. But he decided to stay quiet.

"Sorry, I'm probably making you feel uncomfortable bringing it up. Why don't you go downstairs?” Shou gave a gentle smile, only wishing the best for Time Man.

“Yes, sir…” Time Man looked around. He was only brought to the top floor to demonstrate his Time Slow; everyone here except for Dr. Kouin probably only thought of Time Man as a guinea pig. His regret started to show up on his face. He looked like a lost deer in a parking lot.

“Vic to Shou, we have a medical emergency!” A video call came in from Dr. Kouin’s computer. The man on-screen was a paramedic with rather curly hair.

“Dr. Kouin speaking, what happened, Victor?”

“A man was seriously injured in Rocky Mountain National Park! We’re trying our best to stabilize him, but fast action’s going to be required when we get him to the E.R.!” The roar of a helicopter could be heard in the background.

“Copy that, I’ll page Vanessa immediately.” Dr. Kouin closed the call. “Time Man, I know this is sudden, but get to the ground floor immediately.”

“Yessir.” Time Man exited the lab, his armor disappearing from under his new coat. His civilian form is probably better suited for operating than his normal form.

It’s time to get serious.


End file.
